Title |
Too good to be true: Publication bias in two prominent studies from experimental psychology
|
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Published in |
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, February 2012
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DOI | 10.3758/s13423-012-0227-9 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Gregory Francis |
Abstract |
Empirical replication has long been considered the final arbiter of phenomena in science, but replication is undermined when there is evidence for publication bias. Evidence for publication bias in a set of experiments can be found when the observed number of rejections of the null hypothesis exceeds the expected number of rejections. Application of this test reveals evidence of publication bias in two prominent investigations from experimental psychology that have purported to reveal evidence of extrasensory perception and to indicate severe limitations of the scientific method. The presence of publication bias suggests that those investigations cannot be taken as proper scientific studies of such phenomena, because critical data are not available to the field. Publication bias could partly be avoided if experimental psychologists started using Bayesian data analysis techniques. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 5 | 33% |
Japan | 3 | 20% |
Unknown | 7 | 47% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 8 | 53% |
Scientists | 6 | 40% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 7% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 9 | 3% |
Germany | 3 | <1% |
Canada | 3 | <1% |
Netherlands | 2 | <1% |
Portugal | 2 | <1% |
Belgium | 2 | <1% |
Uruguay | 1 | <1% |
Brazil | 1 | <1% |
Sweden | 1 | <1% |
Other | 5 | 2% |
Unknown | 288 | 91% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 78 | 25% |
Researcher | 41 | 13% |
Student > Master | 38 | 12% |
Student > Bachelor | 33 | 10% |
Professor > Associate Professor | 24 | 8% |
Other | 73 | 23% |
Unknown | 30 | 9% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 195 | 62% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 18 | 6% |
Social Sciences | 9 | 3% |
Neuroscience | 9 | 3% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 8 | 3% |
Other | 31 | 10% |
Unknown | 47 | 15% |